Chamber and committees

There are currentlysix special adviser full-time appointments, one part-time appointment, one unpaidappointment and one short-term appointment until the end of October 2007. Therewill be one further full-time special adviser appointment from 22 October. Thespecial advisers and their specific responsibilities are as follows:

Name	Specific Responsibilities
Duncan Hamilton (part time)	Political adviser to the First Minister
Professor Sir Neil McCormick (part-time unpaid)	Adviser on Europe and external relations
Kevin Pringle	Strategic co-ordination across all portfolios, political spokesperson and senior adviser on communications issues
Stephen Noon	Senior adviser on policy matters across all portfolios
Noel Dolan	Senior policy adviser to the Deputy First Minister
John McFarlane	Policy adviser, supporting Mr Noon
Jennifer Dempsie	Communications adviser and Parliamentary liaison
Geoff Aberdein	Advice on diary issues and support for Parliamentary Liaison Officers
Jennifer Erickson (short-term contract until 31 October 2007)	Advice on the establishment of the Council of Economic Advisers
Will McLeish (from 22 October 2007)	Support on communications issues

 

The number of salariedspecial advisers in each pay band from 22 October 2007 is:

Pay Band	Pay Range	Number of Salaried Special Advisers
1	£38,100 - £49,300	4
2	£49,301 - £63,100	0
3	£62,800 - £81,100	3
3 (premium)	£80,700 - £97,500	0
4	£84,000 - £100,900	1

 

The total salary costfor the 12 Special Advisers in the previous Administration in 2006-2007 includingERNIC and employer pension contributions was £854,376. Details are:

	Salary	ERNIC	Pension Contribution	Total
2006-07	£684,520	£78,634	£91,222	£854,376

 

The Scottish Executive has,since April 2002, routinely published information on regional selective assistance(RSA) recoveries, payments and accepted offers. Full details can be found onthe RSA website at:www.scottishbusinessgrants.gov.uk.

The following informationis taken from the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), published by the Departmentfor Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

At the end of May2007 there was an installed hydro capacity in Scotland of 1,246.9 MW from stationscommissioned before 1990 and with a capacity of at least 1 MW.

DUKES also notes thatthere is a further 130 MW of installed hydro capacity from stations across the UK with a capacity of less than 1 MW. Details regardingthe location and commissioning dates of these stations is not held centrally.

The information isnot available on an annual basis.The previous ScottishExecutive last published annual information on regulated public appointments inFebruary 2003. The Annual Report on Appointments to Non-Departmental Public Bodiesin Scotland listed all appointees on the boards of regulated public bodies asat 1 December 2002. A copy of this report is available from the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 26734). Since then, both the Executive and the currentScottish Government have provided current details of all regulated ministerial publicappointments on its Public Appointments website at www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/government/public-bodies.

The website is updatedas appointments are made or come to an end. It provides details of all current regulatedappointments.

Information aboutnon-regulated appointments is not held centrally.

Scottish Enterprise (SEn)and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) are responsible for collectingstatistical information for the national training programmes they deliver andpublish a range of statistical information on their websites. This includes thenumber of modern apprenticeship achievements broken down by framework. Thisinformation is available in the public domain via the following links for theyears 2005-06 and 2006-07:SEn area - http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/sedotcom_home/training-providers-top/training-providers/performance-and-reports.htm?siblingtoggle=1HIE area - www.hie.co.uk/national-government-programme-statistics.html.

Local Authorities providethe Scottish Executive with annual estimates of vacant and derelict land in thevoluntary Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey.

The survey guidance definesvacant land as land that is currently not used for a purpose allocated in anadopted local plan (or council approved replacement plan) and which isappropriate for development. The land must either have had prior development onit or if it had no prior development, work has to have been undertaken toprepare the land in anticipation of future development. Vacant land is notenvisaged to require rehabilitation prior to any new development. The surveyonly covers vacant land contained within settlements as defined by localauthorities’ latest adopted local plans or council approved replacements.

The survey guidance definesderelict land as land that it is currently not used for a purpose allocated inan adopted local plan (or council approved replacement plan) and has been sodamaged by development or use that it is incapable of development forbeneficial use without rehabilitation. Types of rehabilitation can include thedemolition or clearing of fixed structures or building foundations, theremediation of land where the potential presence of chemicals or othersubstances/elements has rendered the land unfit for redevelopment in itscurrent state and the clearing of large amounts of left over rubble, stonedeposits and other abandoned physical material typically associated with formermineral works, mines etc.

The survey guidance notes(containing further information on the definitions of vacant and derelict land)can be viewed on the Scottish Executive website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Planning/DataSupplierArea.

Scotland’s Population2006: the Registrar General’s Annual Review of Demographic Trends is published today. The Report contains informationabout births, deaths and marriages during the year, together with otherdemographic information. A copy of the report is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 43115),or from the Registrar General’s website at:www.gro-scotland.gov.uk.

The Scottish Executive doesnot produce labour market projections. Labour market projections are howeverproduced by FutureSkills Scotland. These projections are designed to provide a broadindication of likely future trends and are not detailed enough to identify theimpacts of individual MA frameworks currently available.

I refer the member to thequestion S2W-15444 answered on 13 April 2005. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Summary statistics onEducation Maintenance Allowances are published annually on the ScottishExecutive website.

(a) Academic year 2004-05

In 2004-05 23,650 studentswere on the EMA scheme, of those 16,870 attended school and 6,780 were atcollege. The following table shows the number of pupils who receivedidentifiable payments from local authorities, analysed by age profile and localauthority.

Number of EMA RecipientsSplit by Age and Local Authority 2004-05

	Age
Local Authority	Total	15	16	17	18
Aberdeen City	350	115	235	0	0
Aberdeenshire	435	155	280	0	0
Angus	290	95	185	5	0
Argyll and Bute	280	85	195	0	0
Borders	345	120	220	5	0
Clackmannanshire	155	40	115	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	495	160	330	5	0
Dundee	715	140	390	185	0
East Ayrshire	655	170	350	130	0
East Dunbartonshire	400	150	240	10	0
East Lothian	250	70	180	0	0
East Renfrewshire	350	125	215	10	0
Edinburgh	870	265	605	0	0
Falkirk	355	135	220	0	0
Fife	1070	370	700	0	0
Glasgow	2680	550	1480	620	30
Highland	765	285	480	0	0
Inverclyde	355	135	220	0	0
Midlothian	210	75	135	0	0
Moray	240	90	150	0	0
North Ayrshire	545	205	340	0	0
North Lanarkshire	1025	365	655	5	0
Orkney	60	25	35	0	0
Perth and Kinross	330	105	225	0	0
Renfrewshire	635	235	390	10	0
Shetland	60	25	35	0	0
South Ayrshire	770	250	510	10	0
South Lanarkshire	905	305	595	5	0
Stirling	195	55	140	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	460	30	325	110	0
West Lothian	480	170	310	0	0
Western Isles	100	40	60	0	0
Total	16830	5125	10560	1115	35

Notes:

Numbers have been rounded tothe nearest 5.

Totals may not sum due torounding.

National roll-out began inAugust 2004; prior to this EMAs were piloted for the full 16-19 age cohort infour local authority areas.

(b) Academic year 2005-06

In 2005-06 36,460 studentswere on the EMA scheme, of those 23,970 attended school and 12,490 were atcollege. The following table shows the number of pupils who receivedidentifiable payments from local authorities, analysed by age profile and localauthority.

Number of EMA RecipientsSplit by Age and Local Authority 2005-06

	Age
Local Authority	Total	15	16	17	18
Aberdeen City	590	125	320	145	0
Aberdeenshire	735	150	420	165	0
Angus	460	105	240	110	0
Argyll and Bute	410	80	225	100	0
Borders	515	110	275	130	0
Clackmannanshire	235	50	120	65	0
Dumfries and Galloway	785	155	415	210	5
Dundee	770	135	415	215	0
East Ayrshire	690	160	390	140	0
East Dunbartonshire	555	125	315	120	0
East Lothian	385	85	205	95	0
East Renfrewshire	525	120	285	120	0
Edinburgh	1740	385	975	380	0
Falkirk	610	165	335	110	0
Fife	1670	370	905	400	0
Glasgow	2825	630	1565	605	25
Highland	1235	265	685	285	0
Inverclyde	635	140	355	135	0
Midlothian	395	85	225	85	0
Moray	415	110	230	80	0
North Ayrshire	730	165	400	160	0
North Lanarkshire	1345	300	740	305	0
Orkney	90	20	60	15	0
Perth and Kinross	555	100	310	145	0
Renfrewshire	915	210	500	205	0
Shetland	85	15	55	20	0
South Ayrshire	555	125	295	140	0
South Lanarkshire	1435	290	790	350	0
Stirling	370	80	190	100	0
West Dunbartonshire	540	110	315	110	0
West Lothian	740	200	370	170	0
Western Isles	165	35	95	30	0
Total	23,710	5,215	13,020	5,440	35

Notes:

Numbers have been rounded tothe nearest 5.

Totals may not sum due torounding.

National roll-out began inAugust 2004; prior to this EMAs were piloted for the full 16-19 age cohort infour local authority areas.

(c) Expenditure

The overall expenditure forthe programme in each financial year has been as follows; £19,172,100 in2004-05 and £29,293,070 in 2005-06.